Chronicle/Ken StevensHunters gather for lunch in a building next to the Ruby Creek Tavern in Mason County's Logan Township Saturday. Jerry Welcome is the owner of the tavern and organized a special deer hunt mainly for veterans from the Grand Rapids Home for Veterans. The hunt took place in various sites in surrounding townships. Enlarge photo

It was a shot 39 years in the making.

Brian Woodward, who is a quadriplegic, nudged his chin against a joystick, making the rifle attached to his wheelchair follow the doe that just trotted into sight.

And with a quick blow from his lips into a tube connected to the rifle, Woodward sent a bullet rocketing through the air, striking the deer on its neck and killing it instantly.

"That's my first one. ... Can you believe it?" said Woodward, who's spent the past 25 years in a wheelchair after a car crash left him paralyzed from the neck down. "It dropped right in its tracks. My heart's still racing."

Woodward, who lives in Detroit and works for Ford, started hunting when he was 10, but never shot a deer before he became paralyzed at age 24.

"I wasn't sure I was going to get one, but I did," the 49-year-old said.

He wasn't alone.

Chronicle/Ken StevensParalyzed hunter Brian Woodward, 49, of Detroit waits as Jerry Allen, 43, (far right) of Dowling and Martin Singleton, 32, (left) his caregiver, place a hunting blind over Woodward in Oceana County's Leavitt Township. Woodward was paralyzed in an auto crash in 1983 and uses a device by blowing and sipping air to aim and fire the rifle. Enlarge photo

About 20 veterans with disabilities also were getting a chance to hunt — an activity many said they once loved, but have rarely been able to do since incurring their disability.

The event was billed as the Ruby Creek Tavern Disabled Veterans Hunt Day. Jerry Welcome, who owns the Ruby Creek Tavern in Branch, said he organized the event because disabled veterans rarely get the chance to be in the "great outdoors."

"This gives veterans a chance to get outside and do something they haven't done in years," said Welcome, who served in the Marines in the 1960s. "They did so much for their country and it's important that we remember that."

But not all those who participated in the hunt were veterans. Some, like Woodward, were invited by the veterans to join in.

Chronicle/Ken StevensJerry Welcome is the owner of the Ruby Creek Tavern in Mason County's Logan Township, and organized a deer hunt for veterans from the Grand Rapids Home for Veterans.

"Everyone deserves to be able to hunt," said Welcome.

The veterans -- who were from the Grand Rapids Home for Veterans hospital -- said they were happy to have him.

Excitement was high all afternoon at Ruby Creek Tavern in Branch as hunters gathered for lunch and eagerly chatted about the hunt.

Dan Pletcher, a service officer from the American Legion in Hesperia, said the event was "uplifting."

"It's a chance for them to feel alive again," said Pletcher. "It gives them a chance to be outside the four walls they're trapped in at the veterans hospital."

Ed Macie-Jewski couldn't agree more.

After spending the past two years in a wheelchair following a stroke and heart attack, the Navy veteran forgot the "joy" of being outdoors.

"It's really great just being in the outdoors, sitting in the blind and just waiting," Jewski said. "Being with the other veterans in a setting like this is something that rarely happens."

As the sun dipped below the rolling farmland, the veterans went to the Ruby Creek Conservation Club for a celebration. They piled their plates with steaks, beans and potatoes and chatted wildly about the hunt. After dinner, they sipped beer and listened to two men on guitars stumble through a litany of Johnny Cash tunes.

"Everybody's real pumped up," Jewski said.

Even 75-year-old Bob Vanderlaan was getting into it.

Chronicle/Ken StevensBrian Woodward, 49, of Detroit waits for Jerry Allen, 43, (left) of Dowling and Tom Ancel of Hastings (far right) to adjust his father's Remington .30-06 onto a device so he can aim and fire the gun. Enlarge photo

"I was here last year; it was a long night," Vanderlaan laughed. "It was a lot of fun even though we didn't get back to Grand Rapids until 5 a.m."

Although the Korean War veteran didn't end up with a deer, he still was happy to be in the outdoors with his fellow vets.

"I saw about 30 deer," he said. "I did a lot of shooting and there's a chance I knicked one. They're still out there checking for blood trails."

Still, the evening was about more than catching deer. For veterans like Barbara Locke of Hart, it was a chance to bond with those who "have made the ultimate sacrifice for their country."

Chronicle/Ken StevensCaregiver Martin Singleton, 32, (left) and Jerry Allen, 43, of Dowling drag a deer back to the hunting blind to show hunter Brian Woodward, 49, of Detroit, who is paralyzed, what he shot in Oceana County's Leavitt Township. Woodward, 49, used his father's Remington .30-06 and a special device to aim and fire the rifle.

"I thought it was so awesome to be here," said Hart, who was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder after she returned from an 11-month tour of duty in Iraq with the Michigan Army National Guard. "Everyone here has gone through some really tough times, and it's so great to see them all so happy."

By 11 p.m., a few of the veterans looked exhausted from the flurry of activity, but as they marched into the rumbling school bus to go back to Grand Rapids, they all lined up to thank Welcome for the event.

"Everybody's happy and that's good enough for me," Welcome said. "We got a few deer, too."